Economy in Brief

In Italy industrial production trends are weak while in France there is less sense of ongoing progress and there is a big setback over the past few months. French IP is falling at an 8.3% annual rate over three-months compared with [...]

The lines to file for unemployment insurance grew last week to their longest since January. Initial claims for jobless insurance jumped 66,000 to 374,000 (6.3% y/y) during the week ended October 5 from an unrevised 308,000 during the [...]

German industrial production rose by 1.4% in August after falling by 1.1% in July. All three-major sectors reversed declines in July to advance in August. In the quarter-to-date, German IP is rising at a 2.8% annual rate, led by a [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that the total mortgage market index improved by 1.3% (-54.7% y/y) last week following their slight down-tick during the prior week. Applications to refinance an existing loan led the gain [...]

The International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs reported that chain store sales slipped last week (+1.8% y/y). They began this month 0.8% below the September average after falling 1.3% during all of that month. During [...]

The price for a gallon of regular gasoline dropped 6 cents last week to $3.37 (-12.5% y/y). Prices were at their lowest level since the end of January, down from the $3.78 per gallon peak reached late in February. Haver Analytics [...]

There is some consternation this morning that German orders fell in August. The drop of 0.3% was small but it makes the second drop in a row and that reduces the year-over-year growth rate to 3%. Should we be worried? While I remain [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its Small Business Optimism Index fell to 93.9 last month. This reversed its August improvement to 94.2. The index has been moving sideways for the last six months. Moving [...]